I found a good article that makes installing Win XP a lot faster. I followed the instructions and it worked like a charm. (The disc creation did anyhow, I haven't reformatted yet)

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20040908/index.html

Alot of good stuff on that site. I've been going on it for some time now although I'm still waiting for all my programs to upgrade their stuff before I install sp1. Here is a list of the stuff known to conflict.
microsoft

i think service packs twos problems kind of outweigh the good parts about it.

I'm behind a hardware firewall and a software firewall using sp1. I personally don't think I have any security issues. SP2 security programs is what is dicking things up.

Ask a computer geek i suggest everyone stay away from SP2. UNLESS you got problem with SP1. There is nothing good about SP2 as of know., Just more loop hole. If you are worry about hacker, go out and get a router or a software firewall such as zonealarm or Blackice defender.

I am running sp2 with no problems. The pop up blocker in IE is awesome. Since Longhorn won't be out for probably 2 years, you're going to end up updating to sp2 sooner or later.

Yeah I started the install of sp2 and it froze in the middle installing.....gd laptop....anyway when I restarted it said to uninstall which I did which then in turn unloaded all my drivers so right now im pissed at microsoft...